We have a problem, we have become too popular

First of all, we want to thank everyone for their interest in our site. We launched Fstoppers 3 days ago. On day 1 we got 250 hits and I thought that was really good. On day 2 we got 4000 hits and I was blown away. Today we got 12,000 hits and I started to freak out. Why? Because we are running this site mostly through Vimeo.com which actually costs money (it isn't free like Youtube). We like Vimeo more because it has a great community and the videos are higher quality and they stream better than Youtube but we can't keep this up. I thought that we got 25,000 hits per month, I was just informed that we get 25,000 hits per year before we have to start paying more money. We already have 16,000 of those used up in 3 days and we still have 362 days left to go.

To fix this problem we are going to have to post only Youtube videos on the front page. If Youtube won't load for you then feel free to watch the Vimeo version but if you can stand it please use Youtube to help us out. Also, if you watch our videos on Vimeo.com rather than embedded on our site it doesn't count as a "hit" for us. Our site is going to get much uglier with nasty low res Youtube screenshots on the front but keep in mind the videos can still play in 720p if you choose that option.

Again, thank you everyone for all of your support. If you like what we are doing you can help us out in 3 ways; tell your friends, comment on our videos, and submit your own videos for us to post. More behind the scenes videos on the way soon.

25 Comments

Have you guys considered some sort of PayPal-like "Donate" button to try to offset your costs? You have such awesome behind-the-scenes videos; I don't think I am alone in thinking that many people would help out!

Thanks for being so generous Ryan. We have thought about it but we are not ready to do that quite yet. We may have to in the future but as of right now Youtube does work and it's actually streaming perfectly for me right now in HD which it hasn't done in months so we may not be in too much trouble. We will keep you posted on what we decide. Keep visiting we have a lot more videos being edited right now.

You guys really do have an awesome site. I've been visiting pretty much since the beginning (since NikonRumors mentioned it on their page) and am definitely sticking around. As a student photographer, it's great to get these tips through actual 'suggestion videos' as well as through watching the way other photographers work. Out of curiosity, though, have you considered advertising on the site, or were you guys going trying to keep the site ad-free, despite possible initial intentions?

Thanks so much Adam, we are trying to keep the site ad free for at least right now. We want this website to be a community that is reader driven and if we start trying to make money we will lose our focus on the goal. Thanks for your support and your time in commenting on our site. The more comments we get the faster this site will become something worthwhile. And hey! make some behind the scenes videos for us. We want to promote YOU

This may seem silly, but would you accept behind the scenes videos from a student? I mean, for me, the site is a gateway into the workflow and special tricks of established photographers who really know what they're doing -- who can teach me a lot. Maybe there's something I'm missing about the goals here, though.

Well yes, we are trying to keep the quality of work on our site incredibly high. However I took some solid pictures while I was still in college (many are still in my port) and as long as the video is good we don't care how much experience you have or how much money you make a year. Quality is quality and schooling has 0% to do with it. Have I mentioned I didn't go to school for photography and I have no formal training? :)

You know, put short you deserve all the hits. Realy great start! Congrats.The Carousel video from youtube loads in no time for me (Sweden).Looking forward to learning more cool stuff from you guys ;)//M.

Thanks for all the support! Fstoppers is not going anywhere so let's go ahead and put that worry behind us. Donation Button....nah we aren't trying to make money off of anyone. I think the best thing for right now is to see how this all unfolds and when has too many readers ever been a problem in the first place? If being too helpful is a problem then count me out when it comes to finding a solution

Your idea for this website is long overdue..lol. Im from Kingston, Jamaica and since your launch I have been logging on every day. It is really hard to learn from the professionals here, simply because there aren't that many. most time I learn by trial and error similar to what I see you're doing. I am definitely going to be an avid follower of this website. As we say here in Jamaica, One Love.

Loving what I'm seeing so far. My one comment would be that unlike the shoot of the Rolex watch, and the videos specific to equipment (like the SB-800 mod), the rest of the videos show photographers in action, but do little to inform. It would be really great to hear more about the lighting setups used, lighting theory, etc. I know that the videos are not specifically touted as an educational series, and it doesn't need to be hardcore instructional, but otherwise, I feel like the some of the vids run the risk of coming off as 5 minutes of "check us out shooting at this cool location where we get to shoot hot, scantily clad models as rock n roll plays in the background...aren't we rad?"Kudos to you guys for taking a chance and starting something new. I would not be surprised if it was easy for you to get some advertisers and compensate for your costs and time that way. Keep it up.

2. Embed Higher Quality VideosWhile the above trick works for playback, if however you want to embed hig quality videos you need to append “&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D18″ and “&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D22″ to the embed url.

4. Hide the search boxThe search box appears when you hover over an embedded video. To hide the search box add ‘&amp;showsearch=0′ to the embed url.

8. Disable Related VideosPublishing your content in the form of Youtube video? Don’t want people to see other people’s content that may be related but may as well be in competition to you? Just add ‘&amp;rel=0′ to the end of the url part of the embed code and you just turned off the related video suggestions!

I knew this would be something special the moment I saw it. Great design to the site as well as video quality. I like your idea of linking the vimeo video rather than hosting it on the site, as to not create too many "hits" on the vimeo account.

In the future the paypal donate is a good idea or just accept advertising. You can keep it industry related as to not make it too commercialized. I know many photographers who would pay.

Third, to generate a continual stream, start a community forum. I would be here pretty much daily.

What a problem to have though! The suggestions on the youtube addresses is great. I really have had no issues recently with their streaming. Linking to VIMEO is great but I don't think that the quality of the site will suffer at all going with YouTube more.

Have you looked into ExposureRoom? Its totally free, no limits to file size, no limits to amount of videos you can upload, it has a slick-looking video player, and the video quality and smoothness is equal if not better than Vimeo. Try hosting some videos on that site.

I Just wanted to congratulate you! You've got a great idea and you executed it really nicely, the webpage is great and i've been visiting it almost every day since you guys started. It made me want to try and make a behind-the-scenes video myself! I'll give it a try! But most important, very good job!!

Thanks Jorge, even with our initial viral following we are still in our infancy. So if any of you FS fans can continue to spread the word the better this site will grow. Sharing fstoppers.com will only make it better, and feel free to tweet us cool videos you've come across too so other can see helpful/fun videos too